Beary on Facebook, Niagara, and Mosaic law: Letters

Letters

February 16, 2014

Beary on Facebook

As an Orlando native living in Georgia, I take exception to Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab singling out Kevin Beary for a post he included on his Facebook page ("Facebook at 10: Who here does it well, who doesn't," Feb. 6).

Beary gave 30-plus years to law enforcement and security, protecting citizens like Kassab and her family. He was the sheriff of Orange County for 16 years and deserves more respect than he gets from the media in this city, especially the Sentinel.

Beary is now in Afghanistan helping train local police and consulting with authorities on subjects like counterterrorism. In other words, he's sacrificing his time and safety to try to help people around the world. He uses Facebook to stay in touch with his family and friends. I'm proud to be one of those friends.

Who cares what he says about Al Gore or the climate? I've heard it said Facebook gives people a chance to elevate the mundane. It seems Kassab is pretty good at that herself.

Robert Brinker Kennesaw, Ga.

Niagara's OK to pump more defies logic

Niagara Bottling was granted its request to siphon twice the amount of water from our precious aquifer than originally agreed upon. Shocking!

This was predictable when Niagara was originally granted use of the water supply and set up shop, much to the dismay of many Central Floridians. That's the way business and politics around here work.

Niagara's lawyer, Ed de la Parte, argues that it wouldn't be fair to deny this permit when more than a dozen other beverage plants operate in the St. Johns River Water Management District. I see. Because other businesses already have rights to take water, it only makes sense that we grant Niagara the right to take even more, while we are fully aware that water supplies are not infinite.

Fair? The fact that more than a dozen other beverage companies are operating means that is too many already. Enough is enough.

If we follow de la Parte's logic, would it then make sense for us all to water our lawns twice as often?

I have to wonder why this is allowed. Then, I always come to the same conclusion: Someone is taking money who does not put the interests of the people of the district before his or her own personal gain. I can't think of any other reason.

Would pumping twice the amount of water from our aquifer create any more jobs or really benefit anyone in Central Florida? I think not.

Michael Heamon Kissimmee

Back to basics to raise children responsibly

"Buried girl spurs arrest of mother" and "Fleeing felon kills deputy": Those two headlines in Wednesday's Sentinel point out where we are in our society today.

Just because a person can biologically breed does not mean that person should be having children.

Children are a responsibility, and parents need to be prepared emotionally and financially before bringing a defenseless baby into the world.

All children need to be loved and cherished — nurtured in such a way they grow up knowing they are preparing to be all that God created them to be. Children need to be taught discipline, self-control and responsibility.

We have police chasing an out-of-control society that ends too sadly in the death of the officer and the burglar. A young woman could spend many years of her life in prison for being associated with the young man. Another young woman will spend many years of her life in prison because she did not properly prepare to be a mother.

My father, who brought eight into the world, never shirked his responsibilities; neither did my mother. They stood together and did what they needed to do so we all grew up to become productive adults.

What we need in this world today is a return to the basics. It is not the job of government or the schools to raise our children. Do we have that courage as a community?

Myra Johnson Altamonte Springs

Sympathy impossible after family killings

Regarding Mary Sanchez's column, "Drug flap bolsters the case against the death penalty," in the Feb. 5 Sentinel: It took me a while to compose myself.

Many years ago, my father came home to tell my mother that her sister and family had been murdered.

Their neighbor had tied my eight-months-pregnant aunt to a chair, killed my uncle with an ax when he came home, and then proceeded upstairs to where my three young cousins were sleeping. He strangled them, and then burned the house down. He never said whether he killed my aunt before doing so.

My grandfather died of a heart attack shortly after. My mother, who will be 90, still cries over it. The neighbor got to live to a ripe old age in prison with visits by his family. Had he gasped for air for more than 10 hours, I would not have shed a tear.

How stupid for Sanchez to concern herself with monsters and not for the people who truly suffer.

Beverly Beshara Orlando

Mosaic law obsolete

Virginia Soskin, in her Thursday letter to the editor, does not know what the Bible says about itself.

The entire book of Hebrews was written to show that God authored the Old Testament (which includes the 613 Laws of Moses), but he replaced it with the New Testament, which he also authored.

In fact, Hebrews 8.13 uses the word "obsolete," referring to the Old Testament.

A whole book in the New Testament declares that we are not to follow the Mosaic Law anymore. Check it for yourself.

Paul Gordon Winter Garden

Live within budget

From the presidency of President Reagan to the presidency of George W. Bush, the national debt went from about $1 trillion to $10 trillion. This was under fiscally conservative presidents and Congresses.

All recent Congresses have spent more than they collected in taxes (budget deficits), and have had to repeatedly raise the debt limit.

Talk to your congressmen, and try to get them to stop doing this. The country has to live within its budget by revising the tax code or cutting spending.